Renowned Chinese attorney Gao Zhisheng has written three open letters to Chinese leaders on the Chinese Communist regime’s continuous brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. As a result, he has been closely followed and harassed by plainclothes police for over eighty days. There seems no sign to an end of the harassment. The communist regime once tried to arrest Gao, but it incurred tremendous indignation, via phone and letters, from Chinese and foreigners. The Chinese regime seemed to have lost great popular support.
On the night of January 17, 2006, attorney Gao Zhisheng was nearly the victim of a staged automobile “accident” arranged by plainclothes police. Moreover, when he got out of the car to check the car’s license plate, the car tried to ram him. In this life-or-death situation, Gao dodged the onrushing the car and successfully escaped this attempted murder.
Emotionally recounting his experience Gao said,“ I have always felt that God is helping me and indeed God is helping me. The response time for my braking to avoid the accident was not that of an ordinary person and my agility in avoiding the ramming incident is also something I can’t believe.”
After the incident, Gao received many supportive phone calls. Gao said, “I did not think my life as an ordinary person and my personal safety would have concerned so many fellow citizens. Yet today, friends from the U.S. embassy and the French government have called me. I have received many, many phone calls from people expressing their support”
The Auto “Accident”
Gao Zhisheng wrote a short letter on the night of January 17: “Tonight at 22:24 p.m., while I was driving at a normal speed, a little car driving in front of me, with its number plate covered by newspaper, abruptly stopped. It was obviously done to deliberately cause an accident to make it look like I rammed them with some sort of ”evil intent". After stopping my car with much effort, the distance between two cars was less than 1 centimeter! After I got out of the car, I went to the front of the other car to check its registration, since its rear plate was obscured. The car suddenly started and bumped me. My reactions were miraculously fast. Since I lost my balance, I left my right fingerprints on the other car’s bonnet. I jumped into a garden on the roadside.
When the car quickly backed up and made off, the newspaper covering the rear number plate accidentally dropped, revealing the registration JingEB8233. This was a military registration. Please help to quickly publish this news on the Internet. [Signed] Gao Zhisheng, who was very nearly killed in a car crash, January 17, 2006.”
(A report on the incident and Gao’s letter were published as Assassination Attempt Made on Gao Zhisheng )
“JingEB8233” is one of the two newly-added cars attorney Gao mentioned in his December 31 article (Chinese only) “Today, the Cars Following Me Increased to Nine”: “Two days ago, the number of vehicles following me whenever I went outside, suddenly increased from the regular four to seven. Two of the cars are a Mercedes and a BMW. Yet, today when I went out, the number of vehicles following me has reached nine. See, on the top of the seven cars that follow me, two more cars ”JingFF6034“ and ”JingEB8233“ have been added.”
An Interview with Mr. Gao Zhisheng, Attorney, January 18
[ Sound Recording in Real player format (Chinese only)]
“Last night, the events happened suddenly. Recently there have been many cars following me, and in the rear was a military vehicle. The license plates on the front and rear of the military vehicle were covered with newspaper. The license plates of the car that hit me were also covered up with newspaper.
Yesterday I was in an interview with a friend from Australia. After the interview I left early, I didn’t want him to leave before me. That is because no matter who I come in contact with, they (the police) will be rascals about it, and follow that person. I don’t want others to be followed, so I told him that I'd leave first.
“Since the traffic in Beijing at 10 p.m. is quite light, when I first went out; we were all going very fast. The car in front of me had its license plate covered by newspaper.
“After driving at a fast pace for two to three minutes, that car suddenly made a panic stop. At these speeds, a traffic accident is very dangerous, because I would inevitably hit him. He could say that I deliberately collided with him. The police would have a clear cause to arrest me, since I deliberately rear-ended him.”
True Experience of Being Blessed by God
“There is one other thing. At the speed I was going, if I reacted only a bit slower, I would have been at least seriously injured. He braked suddenly, and I still had to get to my brakes. When we came to a stop, my car was so close to the other that I could not even get my fingers on between.
“I couldn’t see other person’s license plate. When I ran to the front to see his license place, he suddenly came towards me at high speed. I am positive that the driver’s intention was to kill or disable me.
“I have told many friends, that I indeed have Gods protecting me. After I quickly turned, I almost started to lean against his car, but instead I fell towards the other side. My right hand was on top of his hood. I forcefully pushed against it, and then jumped into a garden on the side of the street.
“That is because behind him there followed a military vehicle. If I didn’t leave hastily, that car would come to finish the job. It is certain that if the first car didn’t complete the mission, the second car would come and do it.”
It Was Instinct That Controlled Me
“In normal times we’ve always said firmly not to be afraid of death. This is using our intentions to control our emotions. However, last night when things happened so suddenly, I felt that it is not our intentions that control us, but our instincts.
“This instinct resulted in my physiological responses. My heart continued to beat erratically. I crouched in the garden for four to five minutes, then slowly got back into the car. Afterwards I sat idle in the car for six to seven minutes. I wanted to calm down first before I drove off.
“However, ten or more minutes later, their cars – two cars that had the same ghostly look came again. After they arrived, there was a bystander watching. I also knew that the newspaper previously obscuring their rear license plate had fallen off, leaving them exposed.
“At this time, I went towards them with unthinkable haste. I ripped off the newspaper covering the front license plate of the car that hit me. Then I started towards that military vehicle and when I prepared to pull away the newspaper covering his plate, both of them sped away again.
“After moving four or five hundred meters away, they looked back viciously, not wanting to give up on their target. I immediately drove home.”
Usually Dozens of Cars; Yesterday, Only Two
Reporter: Are you familiar with the drivers of those two cars?
Gao Zhisheng: I am not familiar with them. The windshields and windows were too dark to see through, even during daytime. People usually use their visors while driving only when it is bright outside. However, the plainclothes police who follow me use their visors day and night so that it is practically impossible to see their faces.
Reporter: What kind of a car was that military vehicle?
Gao: It was a Volkswagen Santana.
Reporter: You are sure the license plate you announced is from the car that followed you yesterday?
Gao: Yes, definitely. After I went home last night, my wife said that the license plate seemed really familiar. Later, I looked through records of license plates of cars that have followed me before, and it turns out I was followed by that same car on December 30.
Reporter: What do you think of this incident? They planned to murder you, right?
Gao: In retrospect, I think they did plan to assassinate me. There are usually ten cars following me, but last night, there were only two. In addition, those two cars had their license plates covered up by newspaper.
Impossible to Analyze a Pack of Mad Dogs
Reporter: What do you think their objective was?
Gao: I don’t rule out that they wanted to take my life, and I definitely don’t rule out that they wanted to cause me severe injury.
Reporter: Why would they adopt this tactic, and what do you make of it?
Gao: I have no way to analyze this; they are a pack of mad dogs.
Reporter: Recently you have been taken by Chinese people as a representative figure of China’s democratic reformists.
Gao: Because they [the Chinese communist regime] have always deeply hated this.
Anything Worthy of Nostalgia
Reporter: You told Zhao Xin, the son of Zhao Ziyang, that we must also pay a price and sacrifice for this process of transition.
Gao: We are always mentally prepared. I have said to Zhao Xin more than once that we are currently paying the price. Sometimes, the cost may be physical pain, mental pain, freedom, or something like the course of events that happened to me. We regard the prices we pay as a part of our destiny.
If yesterday I had crashed into the other car at high speed, I would have been either severely injured or completely have wrecked the other car, causing the other person to be injured. If that had happened, I could have been blamed for murder and be arrested.
Reporter: Attorney Gao, what do you think of a government that adopts such tactics?
Gao: (smiled): The real shame and sorrow of Chinese people is that we still have to call it a “government.”
Reporter: Do you think there is anything worthy of nostalgia?
Gao: : As far as that regime is concerned, there is nothing to be nostalgic about. I, on the other hand, have lots. Waking up and seeing my child in the morning, I feel how great life is!
Sometimes, life and death is just an instance. It is possible that a child may lose his or her father while the child is sleeping. Therefore, when I woke up this morning, I picked up my daughter and kissed her, though she may not fully understand the implications.
Man’s Plans are Inferior to Heaven’s
Reporter: Zhuge Liang once said: “I believe God controls my life.”
Gao: Yes, exactly! I’ve told Zhao Xin that Man’s schemes are inferior to those made by heaven.
During the course of the incident, I have always felt God helps me, and indeed God is on my side.
The speed at which I reacted when I applied the brakes was not that of an ordinary person. Also, my reaction time when I dodged the ramming car is beyond my imagination.
Reporter: Have you imagined what would have happened had you lost your balance?
Gao: No. Because I didn’t imagine his car would bash into me. As soon as his car bumped me, I turned on my heel, and my right hand was placed on the front cover of the right side of the engine. The speeding car tumbled me down. Then I leaped up, into the park at an intersection to evade a military vehicle following it. If I had not jumped aside, there is no doubt the military vehicle would not have hesitated to finish me off.
Reporter: After an incident of this kind, many people probably want to protect you.
Gao: Protect me? Can I be protected? They will kill you in the ways you could not imagine.
Reporter: Attorney Gao, if by any chance you would be… if anything happens to you?
Gao: Nothing will happen to me, because God has not deigned this. Anything untoward will happen to them.
